//------------------------------//
// 2: Princess Training and Experiments Breaking 
// Story: The Games We are Forced to Play 
// by Kablam Pony 
//------------------------------//

	Twilight

“Twilight, are we there yet?”

“For the last time Spike, the answer is still no. we will get to the castle when we get there.”

Twilight casually flapped her wings to a steady beat while she flew over the rolling landscape of Equestria and the approaching capital, Canterlot. Twilight was a little nervous because she had been called in by Princess Celestia for some extra lessons in being a Princess. Ever since she became an alicorn, Twilight had been trying to read anything and everything that could help her in any way in being a Princess. The abandoned two sisters' castle in the Everfree Forest had been of some use, but for the most part it was just an archaeological treasure trove of historical artifacts.

Twilight had still been looking for something that was little more on topic to ruling a kingdom and the Princess had offered some on-the-job training, so to speak. When she first started shadowing the Princess it simply began with being present and observing a few meetings, then helping out with documents that needed to be filed. Eventually, Celestia asked her to put some input in at a few of the meetings she sat in on. Then there was the 'Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange' event that happened a couple of weeks ago. It was a bit of a surprise when Princess Celestia had asked her to preside over the trading and serve as a judge for trading disputes, but all in all she thought she handled it quite well. However today she was merely observing another meeting again with some fancy big-wigs over commerce and festival setup.

“Look! There's the castle entrance!” Spike pointed to the grand purple and golden doors that led into the main castle. The castle was looking as pearl white as ever with its purple and gold spire tops and towers. The grounds were well pruned and the water was crystal clear in the small ponds and mote. A few fish lazily swam under the surface and birds were chirping cheerfully in the trees. Twilight made her landing approach to the castle grounds, although the landing approach was more than a little strange. Those who were adequately skilled in flying (meaning all Pegasi present on the grounds and a few others with knowledge of flying) could easily point out the mistakes that were being made; such as the 'approach' being more shaky than a royal day guard on his third consecutive shift in a row. The flapping of her wings were slightly out of synch which induced even more instability for her. To top it off, Twilight was kicking her legs in the air causing an unpredictable shift in her weight. All together, this created what a flight instructor would call, “a crash landing”. 

Twilight touched down on the ground, but had to gallop to match speeds with the ground before slowing to a stop. She straightened up and gave herself a little shake and adjusted her mane as if to play off her entrance but every guard and attendee close by were well aware of Princess Twilight's lack of skill in basic proper flying. Spike hopped off Twilight's back onto all fours, thankful to have solid and steady ground beneath him.

“S-Shall we go in?” Twilight spoke with an attempt to sound as if nothing had happened, but Spike just gave Twilight a slightly disapproving look making clear that he was not pleased with his flight to Canterlot.

“Yeah, we should probably head inside and head for the meeting.”

Twilight and Spike made there way to the entrance hall of the castle. The meeting was being held in one of the many side rooms scattered in the castle. According to the Princess's letter she received a few days ago, the meeting was to be held at 3:00 in the afternoon and was to end at around 6:00. the meeting was also to be held in the west section of the castle near on of its towers. She had made sure to have left Ponyville early to give herself plenty of time to find the room.

Spike and Twilight made their way through the many hall ways and staircases slowly making their way to the west side of the castle. Some hallways were barren of any kind of decoration, others were filled with displays, paintings, and perhaps a statue or two.

“Lets see here... was it supposed to be a right at the second hall way or the third hall way?”

“Twilight, are we lost?” Spike looked over at Twilight with a bored and 'told you so' type of look.

“No, I am just trying to remember the instructions from the letter the Princess sent me. You do still have it on you, right?”

“Yep! I got it right here!” Spike pulled out a letter from his backpack that was filled with an assortment of scrolls, quills and ink and held it up for Twilight to read.

Twilight grabbed in her magic and unfurled the rolled up letter to consult the directions written on it. “Ah! Its a right at the third hall way, then a left at the display case on the right hand wall. The meeting room will be on the second door on the left. Perfect, lets go!”

After a right at the third hall way, a left at the enormous display case that housed countless awards, valuable scrolls and one suit of battle armor, Twilight and Spike stood outside the second door on the left hand side of the hall where the meeting was to be held. Twilight had been to several meetings before, but that didn’t ease the nerves she still got when attending them. Spike gave Twilight a slight nudge egging her on to join the occupants in the room. She exhaled and steadied her breathing before raising a hoof to knock.

*KNOCK,KNOCK,KNOCK*
“Come in!”

The cool and soothing voice of Celestia came from the other side of the door inviting the new arrivals in. Twilight pushed the door open to reveal the room inside. The room itself was a study. Bookshelves lined almost every wall with books loaded in them to maximum capacity. A window was place at the back side of the room letting in light and displayed the outside world. Near the middle of the room was a large coffee table with books and papers spread out before a group of ponies all sitting in either lounge chairs or large luxury sofas. On the right side of the coffee table sat Princess Celestia who was smiling gently at her. While on the other side sat three ponies, one in a lounge chair, the other two on one of the sofas. All three of them were giving Twilight a disapproving scowl for interrupting what they thought was one of their most important meetings in the world.

“Twilight! It's good to see you again! Please come in. we were just in the middle of discussing preparations for the upcoming summer solstice.” Princess Celestia beckoned the arrival of Twilight and Spike with a nod of her head.

Twilight analyzed the setting before her and started to panic at the possibility of being late for the Princess's meeting, the worst possible offense she could do for important princess training. “I’m sorry, am I late for the meeting? I thought I made sure that I left Ponyville early and to give myself extra time to find the room. Maybe if I had sped up my flight time to only 23 minutes instead of 37 minutes I could have...”

“Twilight, its alright. We actually started the meeting early since almost everyone was here. And hello Spike, how are you today?”

“Hello Princess Celestia, and I’m doing really well today. Well, except for the flight here...”

Twilight shot Spike a quick glare, who responded with his own toothy, sheepish smile. She returned her attention back to the Princess and tried to put on a pleasant demeanor after the under-handed blow to her flying ability by Spike. The Princess merely chuckled at the exchange.

“Ahem, ah, may we join the meeting, Princess?” Twilight asked with royal politeness and poise.

Celestia gave a curt smile and responded, “Yes, you may.”

she let some to tension leave her body as she made her way to the sofa the Princess was on. Twilight sat down next to the Princess and looked over the three business ponies that were still giving here scowls of shame. The first business pony on her left who was sitting in the lounge chair was an earth pony mare with a yellow coat and a navy colored mane. She wore an expensive looking topaz necklace and a neat business dress that covered up her cutie mark. The pony in the middle on the sofa was a unicorn stallion with a gray coat and a charcoal black mane that was cut short and parted to both sides. He wore a a simple red neck tie and his cutie mark was that of three bits falling. The third pony was also a unicorn stallion sharing the sofa with the gray stallion. His coat was mud brown with a cotton white mane. He wore a pair of spectacles on his nose.

“Do forgive my rudeness Princess Celestia, but why is miss Princess sparkle here at this important meeting?” the yellow mare spoke up with an air of high class arrogance and annoyance.

“Because miss ribbon,” Celestia addressed the yellow mare, “Princess Twilight is here for training in how to become a proper Princess when she has her own kingdom to rule over. She is here to understand more of the business side of ruling. Now, you were talking about the cost for decorations for next years summer solstice.”

“Yes,” Miss Ribbon continued where she left off before she was interrupted by Twilight's arrival, “I was going to say that the cost for next year's summer solstice celebration was rising due to the increase of import costs on explosive powder and chemicals needed to make our colorful displays in the sky.”

“preposterous!” shouted the brown pony from the right hand side of the sofa, “Those silly poppers you call fire works do not need nearly as much attention as the street decorations need. Besides, that is where most of their attention will be, is on the street level. Not in the sky unless her Highness is raising the sun!”

“Now now, Mr. job,” the middle grey pony spoke up in a corrective tone like a parent preparing to explain to their misbehaving child why they were right and the child was wrong. “Please remember that on the street level, everypony will want food and drink to go along with your  street décor. But if there is not enough funding to procure such pleasantries, then the ponies will have little interest in how wonderful the streets may look or how magical sky may be if they are too focused on their stomachs growling at them in protest for food.”

“Bah! Just simply buy some of those peasantry baked goods from the apple orchards in Ponyville for the lower sections of the city. Our chefs can make enough for our royals here near the castle, Mr. Tri-bits.”

“Mr. Job!” Ms. Ribbon shouted, “Control yourself while in the presence of one of the Royal Sisters!”

Twilight watched as Mr. Job's eyes quickly darted to the side to glance at Princess Celestia, who was looking at him with a frown and a raised eyebrow. With the discerning look of the Princess looking over head, Mr. Job visibly sat back and slouched a little in his seat but continued to keep his hard disposition about him.

the meeting went on without any other interruptions. Twilight was paying close attention to how Celestia was working her magic so to speak. The way she maneuvered her words and positioned herself on every topic and problem that was brought up was incredible. She would weave her words in and out of the conversation like a needle through fabric. However after about two hours of non stop business chatter, Twilight was starting to glaze over the meeting and was losing focus. Spike had stop taking notes after 50 minutes of the meeting had gone by and was now curled up on the floor taking a nap.

Finally, 6:00 had rolled around and the meeting ended. The three business ponies got up from their seats and left the room after giving both Princess Twilight and Celestia a farewell bow. Twilight sighed and leaned back against the sofa she shared with Celestia. The Princess let out a soft chuckle, “Long meeting?” 

Twilight looked a little sheepishly at the Princess, “Do you do this every day?”

Princess Celestia gave a soft nod and continued, “It's not easy being a Princess, but it helps to find pleasures in the things you do. For instance, did you notice how nervous Mr. job was?” The thought did occur to Twilight that the pony in question was being more aggressive in his positioning than what seemed necessary.

“Maybe? It did seem odd that he was little bit more forceful then the others. Why? What was wrong with that?”

“Well, because Mr. job was so forceful he was losing sight of his original goals at the beginning of the meeting. He was more focused on trying to be impressive and intimidating then he was trying to earn more business for the ribbon and streamer industry. It was quite amusing really, it was like watching a colt trying to command an adult around.” Celestia chuckled at her own playful gesture at the expense of Mr. Job.

Twilight was shocked at the inner opinion that Princess Celestia had just revealed to her. “Princess! Are you saying that you like manipulating other ponies around you? That's terrible!”

“Relax Twilight; what I meant to imply was it seemed like this was Mr. job's first meeting with a royal Princess; and that he was nervous and unsure on how to gain more revenue through bargaining with a Princess. I did not mean to come off as manipulative or controlling.”

“Oh, sorry...” Twilight scolded herself a little for even thinking such a thought. This was the Princess she was talking to. Celestia was her mentor and (in some cases) a second mother.

“So how can you tell when somepony is nervous like that?” Twilight asked.

“Well for today's meeting, Mr. job did put up a good facade. However, his actions were very forceful and tense. Now compare that to somepony like Miss Ribbon. Her composure was more relaxed and focused and was positioning herself for the best possible outcome to gain the maximum amount of deals for her fire works company. Now why do you suppose that might be?”

Twilight paused to think for a Moment, “Because, Miss Ribbon has done business with you before, right?”

“Yes, that is true. but I am looking for a better answer. What does Miss Ribbon have in negotiating with me that Mr. job does not have?”

“Hmm... ah, Experience!”

At Twilight's shout, Spike finally started awake and looked around the room and hastily looked for more parchment and quill.

“I’m awake! I’m awake!” Spike sprang out of his curled up ball position and began looking for more parchment and ink to write with, “I’m... is the meeting over?”

Twilight and Celestia both chuckled at Spike's sudden awakening and realization that only three occupants filled the room now, including himself.

“Yes Spike, the meeting is over,” explained Celestia. “But you are correct Twilight. Miss ribbon has more experience than Mr. job has in talking with royal Princesses. Since Miss Ribbon had more experience, she was more confident in her abilities and therefore more relaxed. Relaxation and a calm focus are one of the many keys to ruling a kingdom. A ruler can not make rational decisions if one is distraught with irrational emotions and desires to impress everypony around them. That is not to say that a Princess should ignore her feelings or keep them to one's self. You and I both know what comes of that.” 

Celestia gave a soft smile, but Twilight knew she was implying certain times where she had chosen to keep her worries to herself or had tried acting under the pretense of maintaining ridiculous standards. both had led to partial disasters.

“Well, I think that shall be it for today's lesson, Twilight. If you would like, you may return to Ponyville.”

“Well actually, Princess,” Twilight started, “I was going to take some time and continue working on some of the experiments that I have left here in the castle. Since the library in Ponyville can only hold so much, I couldn't bring all of my experiments with me. So I had to leave a couple here at the castle. You won't mind will you?”

“Of course not,” Celestia said with a smile, “Just make sure not to work too long. You still have a library to run back in Ponyville.”

“I will, Thank you! Lets go, Spike! I need your help with one of my projects!” with that, Twilight took off with a baby dragon hot on her heels.

Twilight had several experiments still left in the castle from her time living here. When she was living in the castle as the princess's star pupil, she had conducted many experiments to further her studies in magic. However when she moved to Ponyville, she needed to move many of those projects to the basement of the Ponyville library and her new home. But Twilight had a plethora of experiments at the castle and the basement could only hold so many; so she was forced to leave a couple behind. One in particular was a trans-dimensional portal she was in the process of creating. The idea had come to her after her adventures in the Canterlot High world. She wanted to figure out if it was possible to recreate the portal that she used to cross over in the first place. After she had returned and had a good night's rest, Twilight had begun work on the portal project. She had been working on it off and on over the past year. Although her other duties had prevented her from spending 100 percent of her time on it, she got done what she could when ever she had extra time on a trip to Canterlot for whatever reason.

But right now she was on the verge of completing the portal. It was all very theoretical but if she could recreate the portal, it would be the discovery of a life time. All she needed to do right now was go over some calculations and finish installing some parts on her design before testing to see if it would work.

Twilight made her way to one of the towers in the castle that housed one of her larger experiments. She opened the large wooden doors to the top of the tower and entered the large room with Spike. All along the walls were chalk boards with either a diagram on it or a string of equations that would make no sense to the average pony. There were tables sprinkled through out the room with scrolls, parts, and a few miscellaneous tools here and there. A couple of tool boxes sat near the edge of room with drawers and lids open. Strewn across every surface in the room was a least 3 books or so. Books open on the floor or on a table for references or simply stacked up to make massive towers. Near the back of the room sat Twilight's biggest project yet. A large arch that was fixated on a platform stood tall over the contents of the room. Several boxes were placed on either side of the arch with cords and cables connecting them together while a pair of pistons sat on top of the arrangement. Her trans-dimensional portal was definitely Twilight's biggest endeavor yet in the magical science world.

Currently a small wooden silo sat close to the portal but not yet connected to the system. Twilight was finishing up making some final checks and completing assembly of the silo which was the power source container for the portal system. She scanned over her laboratory of magic and went back through her memory to figure out where she left off.

“Lets see... calibrated the dimensional rift opener... connected the XYZ targeting system... looks like all we have to do Spike is finish up the MPU and then we can test to see if it works! Easy, right?”

“Uh, what's the MPU?” Spiked asked.

“The Magical Power Unit.”

“Oh. Then I’m ready to get started! I can't wait to see our other-worldly friends! Especially Rarity! Ooh Rarity...” Spike cooed.

Twilight could practically see the hearts popping inside his eyes.
“Don't you like the Rarity from our world, Spike?”

“Well yeah. She'll always be my number one Rarity. But any Rarity in any world is beautiful.”

Twilight rolled her eyes, “Whatever. Can you hand me that screw driver, please?”


~~~


when Twilight finished making final preparations and installed the MPU on the portal, it was around 7:37 at night.

“Phew, alright that looks like everything is in place. Spike, is the fluxuator operational?”

“Check!” he checked off a box on a list Spike was holding.

“The XYZ coordinates set?”

“Check!”

“Do we have the object from their world to anchor the portal?”

“Right here!” Spike held up a small tri-folded piece of paper. But suddenly the doors to the lab flew open and a messenger came flying in.

“Urgent news for princess Twilight sparkle! I am to deliver a letter to your hooves only.” The mail mare spoke with a slightly exhausted voice from the trip that started somewhere in the city of Canterlot, to the castle gates, and finally through the castle and up a tower to Twilight's lab.

“Let me see it, please,” Twilight asked.

The mail mare opened her saddle bag and produced a letter with a red seal on it. She handed the letter to Twilight who took the letter in her magic and waited while she read the contents inside. Her eyes visibly widened as her eyes traveled further and further down the letter.

“Well, what does it say?” questioned Spike.

“There's no time to explain. We have to hurry to the other world before it's too late! Quick, where is the anchor object?!”

“Its over here,” Spike held up the tri-folded paper, “But Twilight, what's...”

Twilight didn’t respond as she grabbed the paper out of his claws and levitated it up to a pedestal on top of the portal. She then turned to the MPU and closed her eyes in concentration and began powering it with her magic. The silo hummed with energy and the contraptions connected to the silo began to whirr to life. The archway began to shimmer and crackle with energy. Soon a small point of energy was forming in the center of the arch and was rapidly growing.

There was a couple of backfires in the system, but Twilight had planned for that to happen since it was a brand new design and did not have the time to 'break it in'. However, Spike and the mail mare were not as keen as hearing the loud bangs coming from the contraption in front of them. Spike had jumped so hard in fright, he accidentally tripped over a cord. His foot got caught in the cord and it tugged at one of the plugs, knocking it slightly loose from its socket. He then fell against another do-hickey that seemed to be very important for proper transdimensional traveling. He would later find out that he bumped into the XYZ coordinator disrupting the previously inputted location. The disruption of the coordinator and the loose plug started a chain reaction for disaster. Twilight was unaware of new problems because she was more focused on powering the machine.

When she finally finished her task, Twilight opened her eyes to see that the portal had finally formed and was about to pass through when she heard Spike call her name.

“Twilight!”

“Huh?”

Twilight looked over her shoulder to see the impending catastrophe. There was an explosion and Twilight was pushed through the portal from the explosive force.

“WahaaAAAaaaaAAAAAaaaaAAAAHHHHH!”

Twilight went through the portal, but it did not feel similar to the first time she passed through. There was the spinning and dizzying sensation, but it was missing something. She didn’t have time to figure that part because the unconscious part of the trip was soon settling in.


~~~


Twilight could feel soft earth beneath her. Where ever she had landed it felt like a grass field. But if she remembered correctly, the nearest grass from the statue at Canterlot high was a good couple of meters away. Another odd thing was that it was quiet. Not quiet as in no one is around; she knew that coming to the school at this time meant that it would be closed so nobody would be here. No, it was quiet as in she couldn't hear anything coming from the road next to the school. Almost like she was in an enclosed area. However, a feeling of being prodded and poked was starting to irritating her. She felt something grab her forehead and wiggle it around before letting go. That last one was the final straw and she rose from her dizzied stupor.

She looked up to see some guy crouching over her with a bit of a perplexed and concerned look on his face. He had blonde hair and green eyes behind a pair of rectangular wire frame glasses. He wore what seemed like blue jeans , a t-shirt and boots. He wasn't terrible looking by any means, but he definitely wasn't as good looking as Flash. She shook her head clear of those thoughts; she didn’t have the luxury to think about that right now. She needed to get to Canterlot high and it looked like she was nowhere near the school.

“Excuse me, but I need your help! My name is Twilight and my friends are in great danger! I need to get to Canterlot high as soon as possible, can you please help me?”

The boy's eyes seemed to widened with shock as Twilight spoke. This was confusing her as to why he seemed to find Twilight as abnormal, but his next words told her that something must have gone terribly wrong when she crossed between worlds.

“You're not supposed to be able to talk.”